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Impressive use of THHN conductors.

07-05-2013, 11:26 PM

Every now and then, the company I work for gets hired up to bring homes up to code when the owner plans to sell. Well, this one house we went into, the elderly widow wanted to sell the house due to no longer being able to maintain it, instead use the money to pay for a home. Reasonable enough. Well, her husband must have been a tradesman of some sort, or a handyman with a rare level of workmanship. To the point where he wired his own garage.

Now we all usually have a short video playing in our heads of images of loose connections, twisted romex, wrongly sized and terminated. with lights and outlets randomly placed. Not so with this one! I wish I had a camera at the time. Instead of romex, this man ran THHN exposed along the framing! However! This man went great lengths to run the hot, neutral, and grounding conductors via a straight (And I mean STRAIGHT!) bundle, and staples every two feet with the same type the phone people use for their cables. I had to admit, never before have I seen a wiring job done so beautifully done, and still be wrong. Furthermore, I will dare say these wires were run in such a manner that there really wasn't a threat of fire or damage, being tucked into the corners of the joists and studs as they were.

"When we build let us think we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work that our descendants will thank us for, and let us think, as we lay stone upon stone, that a time is to come when these stones will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, "See! This our fathers did for us."
John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)

Comment

I bet he had Frankiarmz help him--he must have a boatload of those staples.

Kid, I have enough to sink a boat! The number of new, never opened boxes of staples that got thrown into dumpsters must have been in the trillions. One bit of advise when stapling wire, "look out for shiners". You must be careful not to pierce the insulation.

Judging by the age of the widow, that would be a safe bet. On top of the phone staples, one detail I forgotten to mention was the man knew enough to use plastic federal bushings at every box for the THHN. That job also marked the first time I came across 200 watt incandescent lamps.

That's the one thing about these code compliance jobs that sometimes grind my gears is when the original job was so well done, even with KnT, there is that tiny bit of sadness of being forced to destroy a perfectly well done installation. I remember one large home where the KnT was so clean and black, I'd swear it was installed yesterday if I didn't know better.

Heh, sometimes upon the KnT's removal, I'll reuse the holes for the romex, which usually incurs my employers attention .So I often respond that a hundred years ago, some poor apprentice had to drill a great many joists with nothing more than a bit and brace. So by not reusing those holes would be a great disservice for their suffering!

Comment

Judging by the age of the widow, that would be a safe bet. On top of the phone staples, one detail I forgotten to mention was the man knew enough to use plastic federal bushings at every box for the THHN. That job also marked the first time I came across 200 watt incandescent lamps.

That's the one thing about these code compliance jobs that sometimes grind my gears is when the original job was so well done, even with KnT, there is that tiny bit of sadness of being forced to destroy a perfectly well done installation. I remember one large home where the KnT was so clean and black, I'd swear it was installed yesterday if I didn't know better.

Heh, sometimes upon the KnT's removal, I'll reuse the holes for the romex, which usually incurs my employers attention .So I often respond that a hundred years ago, some poor apprentice had to drill a great many joists with nothing more than a bit and brace. So by not reusing those holes would be a great disservice for their suffering!

You are very considerate, thoughtful and respectful of the hard work of others. Having used a brace and bit to drill through telephone poles (prior to being given an impact wrench) I can say there is a difference

Comment

frank, i learned the inpact wrench drill trick many many years back as i heard a lineman up a pole using that while 40' up and clipped the leads onto the 120 line. very impressed i bought 2- 1/2'' impact chucks for my impact gun. great way to go deaf, but you still have all your teeth.

and 1 of the chucks is a ridgid supreme impact rated 1/2'' drive chuck.

rick.

phoebe it is

Comment

Rick I don't think I ever climbed more than 20', the power guys go high. If you keep the cutting tip of the auger bit sharp, and pull out to clean the cuttings it actually works quite well. I still prefer power tools. How about a star drill for masonry?

"When we build let us think we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work that our descendants will thank us for, and let us think, as we lay stone upon stone, that a time is to come when these stones will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, "See! This our fathers did for us."
John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)